Hi Bob,
As you may or may not have heard, recently my school, Virginia Tech, lost 32 students and faculty. It is impossible to describe the horror of this situation, so I won't even bother. I play a dual role as student and faculty (last semester I showed my class Bob Smith U.S.A.) and spent the past week scared that a friend or student would show up on the victim list.

The reason I'm writing to you about this is that also for the past week I have been receiving random emails from "concerned" Christians, who assure me that they will be "praying" for us and their great undead lord will be with us in our time of sorrow.... yada yada. Obviously, having better things to think about, I ignored these emails until I received this one today. Note that there isn't even a single line of genuine sympathy, not a single inkling of human concern, only whoring for his god, complete with bible verses. How can these people consider themselves human, much less morally superior when they use every tragedy, every misfortune, to try and make more zombie converts - "So sorry about your loss, here's the offering plate."

I don't know what I hoped to accomplish by sending you this message, but to me, and many other alienated atheists, you are our champion. Thanks Bob, for all you do.

Kellie

Hello, you don’t know me but I am praying for you guys as I watch the tragic news about the shooting. Please let me know if there is anything I can specifically pray about…it is in times like these we realize our need for a loving Jesus who gave His life for our sins, so we can have eternal life with Him. I pray that at this time you will turn to Jesus for wisdom comfort and hope.

PLEASE!!! let me know if you would like to know anymore about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Here are some verse I thought may help, and a link on where God is in tragedy.

Sincerely,
Eben

Luke 8:22-25
Jesus Calms the Storm
22One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. 23As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
24The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25"Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
The God of All Comfort
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Question? Why is it that every time you tell some pea headed scum sucking believer that you are an atheist they think that it is because someone in the church has “hurt” you. They can’t understand that we have made an educated decision about what to or in this case not to believe in. Of course you cant expect someone who thinks that there is a supreme being watching everything you do, (and he don’t bring you any presents) to think rationally.

Love your site
Luxx

Terrific question, Luxx! I will be happy to tell you exactly why that reason is presented so often. It's because that's why they believe what they do. They believe their thing for emotional reasons, so obviously you believe your thing for emotional reasons. The emotional reason being that you're mad at the jerk Christians you've encountered so to spite them you chose to believe there's no God.

The second reason they say that is, well obviously they themselves see the behavior of the religious people around them pretending to be perfect, or pretending to be on the road to perfection, or pretending to not have the flaws that they're told not to have, or whatever. I mean, it doesn't take long bein' in a crowd of those folks before you start to see the pretend faces that walk into church, then their real faces when they leave.

You also have to remember that many Christians think they can relate to an atheist's position on the topic by having had their own version of the "atheist experience" at some point. "It" being a brief moment when they rebelled from their church and/or youth group or whatever, and cursed God, or "worshipped Satan in their own Ozzy/Metalica sort of way, then returned to the flock with the "fall from grace" story that's essential for when relating to atheists.

But most importantly, and I speak from experience, they really can't even grasp the concept of there being no God. They can't relate, unless you're mad at some Christian who once hurt you.

Honestly, most of the time they really just don't know what an atheist is.
Bob

“Have fun burning in hell.”

Subject: Jesus Dress up

Hello. This site is offensive to my religion. Have fun burning in hell.
Have a nice day. God bless u.

Holly
holly@retherford.us

And you have fun in paradise while your fellow humans burn forever in hell. You're so nutty for thinking you can have a paradise while people you know burn. Silly girl.

Bob

“I do not believe that I am the only girl that is going to heaven. I know many others are.”

To clear things up for you “Bob” I do not believe that I am the only girl that is going to heaven. I know many others are. You will be judged for putting Gods Son in a dress on his own cross. For goodness sake, what people will do to a man who died for them, Silly man

Holly
holly@retherford.us

I know there are other people going to heaven. I never said there weren't. I'm just saying that there are some people who are going to hell, right? I mean, there are people who die not believing in Jesus and then go to hell. Correct? And you are going to heaven. Correct? All I was saying is that you somehow think you can have a paradise while other people burn and choke forever? If that's true, then I think your religion is sour poopy on a fork.

Bob

“Yes I do believe what u just described.”

Ok. Yes I do believe what u just described. I just hope u get saved. Have a nice day.

Holly
holly@retherford.us

So how are you going to enjoy paradise while people suffer in hell? Do you just lose your love for those people? Or does your god wipe your memory of your loved ones in hell? I don't understand how you could live with either of those options.

Your religion is really kooky. Like a crazy, funny-farm circus that everyone believes for no good reason.

Bob

“Christianity is actually a dying religion. But I won’t stop believing”

Well, what my religion teaches is that you love everyone and try your best to show them the right way, or Gods way. And then they choose to honor him or not and to believe in him or not. And their choice effects their eternity. And yes, I do cry when the people I know and love tell me that God doesn’t exist because I know what will happen to them, and it kills me. And I believe what I believe because I have seen how god works in my life and the everlasting hope of a heaven and hell keeps me going through the day. And if it makes u feel any better, not EVERYONE believes the same way, Christianity is actually a dying religion. But I won’t stop believing, and ill try to make people like you stop creating these types of sites. Even if you think it’s a “kooky” religion you will always have to live with the fact that you will never change the ways of believers like me. And you will get more mail like the first one I sent you. You cant stop that.

Holly
holly@retherford.us

Ahhh, but I have changed the ways of believers like yourself. I've gotten people to think for themselves rather than follow. It's why I continue. I want people to turn away from this cult they've been in since birth.

Bob

“you cannot call me a 'follower' I follow one person and one person only and that is Jesus Christ.”

You think that I follow, but you know nothing about me. You don’t know that I believe that the church is corrupt and full of hypocrites. You know nothing about me. Therefore you cannot call me a “follower” I follow one person and one person only and that is Jesus Christ.

Holly
holly@retherford.us

Oh! I didn't realize you weren't a follower! Sorry. I totally thought you were a follower, but you're not. Except that you're a follower of Jesus. So I guess that makes you a follower, just like I said in the beginning. So yeah, I guess that you're exactly what you claim not to be. A follower.

Wait, let me look at your quote again."I follow one person and one person only and that is Jesus Christ."
Yeah, you're a follower. A follower of Jesus Christ, which also pretty much makes you a follower of the people who wrote about Jesus Christ (because Jesus didn't write any of that stuff about himself). So, since it was written by other people you're sorta following them too. Taking their word for it, and following it. Which I suppose makes you a follower of anyone who's ever translated the story you're following about Jesus, like bible translators, and different versions written by different leaders like King James or whichever one you choose.

I also assume this all includes you following anyone's interpretation of Jesus' story, like pastors, preachers, parents, neighbors, anyone who's retold to you the story of Jesus and what His actions and words meant. You're following all those people too, because you sorta gotta because their the ones who you get all the stories of Jesus from. You're following anyone whose word you take as that of Jesus.

So yeah, you're a follower. A follower to quite a lot of folks actually.
Congratulations.
Bob

“At this current moment, Christians make up 79.8% of Americans. Do you get what that means? 79.8% of your friends and colleagues believe that Jesus Christ is the son of god. Tough odds for you id say.”

To many, Jesus Christ was just a man, or a prophet. But it has been recorded in over 3/4s of historical text that he performed miracles, such as healing the blind and sick. The original story has not been changed as much as non-Christians like yourself claim it to be.

Actually, 76% of it is the exact same. Many people saw Jesus perform the miracles and chose not to believe. Many of them did choose to believe. Just as how today, many people believe he exists, and many people don't. And you seem so proud of yourself that you are converting Christian thinkers to thinking the way you do...which I would like to point out, contradicts your original statement on how your trying to let people "think for themselves". Whatever your intentions, you really can't mask the fact that Christianity will live on...and I have one thing over you. At this current moment, Christians make up 79.8% of Americans. Do you get what that means? 79.8% of your friends and colleagues believe that Jesus Christ is the son of god. Tough odds for you id say. The rest? Made up of other religions that believe in God, but not that jesus exists was his son, but they do believe in heaven and hell unlike yourself... and...the last little 2%...atheists. Very tough odds for you my friend. I would also keep in mind for yourself the increasing amount of missionaries that are coming around. Christian colleges like CCU and CBC are popping up all over the place. And..if you reply to this id suggest not using phrases like "sour poopy" as you usually do. You come off as extremely unintelligent.Have a nice day :)

Holly
holly@retherford.us

I would very much be interested in the other historical references that you speak of besides the bible that talk about Jesus' miracles. That information is new to me! Wow! Please give me the names of any of these books. Big news you've got there! I can't wait.

And I don't mind being part of the minority. I've found that generally the masses have very bad taste and lots of times don't really think their beliefs through to any impressive extent, mostly just believing whatever their favorite sitcom characters believe.

Anyhow, I wasn't kidding about those other historical references. Fill me in on those titles. Sounds like you've got a whole library of history books outside of the bible the world needs to know about. We're all preparing to be dazzled.

Bob

“You seem to imply that God is holding a grudge against Satan and that we should pray that God would rise above the stand-off and forget Satan’s enduring pride and rebellion.”

Bob
The bible indicates that Satan is beyond redemption (God knowing the end from the beginning). So you and I would be praying amiss for Satan’s salvation. You seem to imply that God is holding a grudge against Satan and that we should pray that God would rise above the stand-off and forget Satan’s enduring pride and rebellion.

The sense that God’s judgements are imperfect and that he needs us to intercede so he could evolve more and make better decisions, is out of line with the unfolding revelation of God’s nature in Scripture. Do you accept that God is perfect?

I welcome your comments.

Paul Rhys-Taylor
p-d-rhys@supanet.com

Saying that by asking people to pray for Satan's salvation implies that we think God's holding a grudge against Satan is no less ignorant of a declaration than saying that by praying for ANYONE'S salvation implies that God's holding a grudge against them! Paul, we pray for others not because we're begging God to be a bigger man and overcome His childish behavior. No! We pray for others to show God that we believe in His strength and love and power! We pray to God to show that we care! We pray to God to make that which is impossible with men possible through the power of God! Luke 18:27

Paul, I have seen the hardest enduring pride and rebellion crumble to the ground from the mere whisper of a single prayer in their favor to The Lord Up On High! I have witnessed some of the greatest prayers rise up into the heavens in the name of some of the most wretched, despicable, stubborn villains you could imagine! And those villains are now Christians. HALLELUJAH!

People do not pray for change because we think God's initial plan was mistaken. Moses did not pray for the Red Sea to part in two because he thought God was in error when he made water rest heavily on the floor of the sea. When a sky-diver's parachute malfunctions and he prays to be saved, he is not criticizing God for His decision to tangle the ropes! Do you accept that God is perfect, Paul? Perhaps we should pray for no one because that means we think God doesn't know how to run the show by Himself? Is that what you're saying? Huh? Huh???